We’re constantly making decisions on how we’ll spend our time. When you’re at work, you plan your day around the amount of time you have in a workday compared to the amount of time it will take you to get all the work done that you need to get done. As a business owner, saving time can often mean saving money and even offering better service. Even so, it can be hard to find ways to save time. This is especially true for established businesses with long-standing processes. Trying to find ways to save time without disrupting the way you’ve always done business is difficult at best. And with a new piece of technology or software being developed seemingly every day, it can be hard to figure out whether you should jump ship for what’s new or stay the course with what you have.
Having been in the business since 1985, we here at Payday HCM have seen quite a few changes over the years when it comes to technology. We’re very familiar with the problem of saving time and how technology can be used to save time. We have plenty of clients ask us questions regarding newly released products or software, wondering whether an upgrade is really worth it or if it’s better to stick with what they’ve got. Of course, these two things don’t have to be separate: you can adopt something new that will help you save time while still retaining your current processes or software. This is where APIs and integrations come in.
So, in this article, we’ll be going over the ways Payday utilizes technology to streamline and automate processes with our Operations Manager, Lisa Bodie. To do this, we’ll be looking specifically at APIs and integrations—what they are and how Payday uses them to help businesses keep the software and processes they want to keep while upgrading the ones they don’t. We’ll also look ahead at how Payday is developing AI tools to help our clients save even more time and automate more processes.
In this article, you will learn:
- What Is An API?
- How APIs and Integrations Fit Within Your Current Processes
- How Integrations and AI Can Help You Save (Even Small Amounts of) Time
What Is An API?
First, before we get into the details of how Payday can help automate manual processes using APIs and integrations, we’ll first cover what an API is.
API Definition
Now, we’ve already thrown the acronym API a lot in this article, and you might be wondering what it actually means. Well, while we could go down the software engineering rabbit hole on APIs, we’ll just cover broadly what they are. So, generally, an application programming interface (API) is essentially a set of rules that helps software applications communicate and share features.
You likely have run into APIs (or have seen them in action) quite frequently. If you’re shopping online, for example, and are presented with different options for payment with different apps or software, those apps and software are integrated using an API. It’s a useful way to integrate different softwares in a way that only shares the necessary data and information.
APIs and HRIS Platform Integration
As a business, you likely use several different software platforms for different things. You have your timekeeping software, your expense management software, your applicant tracking system, and the list goes on. Payday uses APIs to help bring these softwares together, increasing the communication between them and saving you time in the process.
“We're trying to assist our clients in building up integrations when they have software they're already using,” Bodie said. “So, let's say someone has an applicant tracking system… then what we try to do is see how we could integrate that data so that they don't have to hand-key in two different systems.”
How APIs and Integrations Fit Within Your Current Processes
Now that we understand what an API is, we can dive deeper into how they can help automate and streamline your manual processes.
Payday’s HRIS Platform and Your Accounting, Timekeeping Software
When making the switch from one software to another, one sticking point becomes data migration. If you’ve used one software for years, it can become difficult to make the jump to something new. With APIs and integrations, Payday can help you keep your accounting, timekeeping, or other softwares while working within our payroll platform.
“Everybody has an accounting software that they have to track all their [general ledger] in. And a lot of people are hand-keying that. So, we work with a lot of people to, one, build out a GL so that they don't have to calculate all of those numbers from payroll, and then, two, sync it up to their accounting software so that they don't even have to hand-key it,” Bodie said.
Automation With APIs and Integrations
When it comes to APIs and different software integrations, automation is key. Utilizing software integrations can help to cut down on time spent entering data manually while also minimizing the chance for error. For Bodie, assisting clients with these automations is a matter of understanding the current processes and software involved.
“Most of the time, we can automate almost anything that someone is doing manually. We just need to understand the process, what software you're doing it with. And then, once we have the process, we can automate that process and then either use an import, export, or an API integration to move the data,” Bodie said.
How Integrations and AI Can Help You Save (Even Small Amounts of) Time
Next, we’ll get into how these software integrations can actually save you time, as well as look ahead at Payday’s work with AI.
Saving Time With Automations
As we mentioned previously in this article, change isn’t easy. When you’re working with manual processes, it’s possible that there isn’t anything wrong with the process. Sure, it takes time, but everything gets done. For Bodie, though, saving five minutes here and ten minutes there can pay dividends later on.
“A lot of times, we don't really think about automation. A lot of times, people think it's part of their job, and it's what I do, and it's not a problem. ‘It only takes me five minutes, fifteen minutes, to do that.’ But fifteen minutes to do this and fifteen minutes to do that, it all adds up,” Bodie said. “If you could automate it, you could use your time for something else.”
Looking Ahead With AI
As important as integrations and APIs are, the next wave of automation is on the horizon with AI. Seeing as Payday has stayed ahead of the curve when it comes to offering automation to clients with software integrations and other tools, we’ve also been working to find ways AI can automate certain processes like benefits reconciliation and assist with customer service.
“That's why we’re trying to move into the AI piece of it…You choose an integration option to automate a process [and] because it reduces manual entry and errors. So, you could potentially save somebody time. That's the benefit of integration: automating and reducing the hand-key error. It just does a lot for the individual,” Bodie said.
Spend Less Time On Manual Processes With Automation
If you asked anyone, they’d probably say that they wish there were more hours in a day. Oftentimes, there are a host of different things we wish we had accomplished in a day or things we wish we could have spent less time on. As a business owner, your time is extremely valuable, and finding ways to maximize how you use it is crucial. Of course, this is easier said than done. With the information provided here in this article, though, you’ll be able to get started on your automation journey and find new ways to save time.
Working with an HCM provider is all about balance. When considering technology, you want to find a payroll and HR provider that can not only leverage technology to help streamline your business’s processes, but also know when a human touch might be the better solution. The balance between technology and a people-first approach is something that Payday specializes in, combining the latest technology with our years of customer service experience and expertise. Whether it’s running payroll or assisting with HR functions, we’re here to help. Learn more about our payroll, HR, and benefits administration services to find the solution that’s best for you and your business.
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